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Showing posts with label finland. Show all posts
Showing posts with label finland. Show all posts

Thursday, May 08, 2025

Fixing Education in America: Lessons from the Best School Systems Around the World



Fixing Education in America: Lessons from the Best School Systems Around the World

America is a global leader in innovation, higher education, and creativity—but when it comes to K–12 education, the United States lags behind. Despite spending more per student than most countries, U.S. students rank in the middle of the pack on international assessments like PISA (Program for International Student Assessment). The problems are systemic, but not unsolvable. Across the globe, countries with fewer resources are achieving more by doing things differently—and smarter.

So, how can the U.S. fix its education system? Here are key reforms America needs, inspired by some of the most effective education systems in the world:

1. Elevate the Teaching Profession — Like Finland

In Finland, teaching is as prestigious as medicine or law. All teachers hold a master’s degree, and only the top university graduates are accepted into teacher-training programs. Once in the classroom, they’re given professional autonomy, trust, and high pay.

What America Can Do:

  • Raise salaries to attract top talent.

  • Require more rigorous and consistent teacher training.

  • Treat teachers as nation-builders, not just public employees.

  • Eliminate over-reliance on standardized testing and give educators more autonomy in the classroom.

2. Make Education Equitable — Like Canada

Canada’s decentralized system achieves world-class results without extreme inequality. Public schools in wealthy and poor areas deliver similar outcomes because funding is more equitable, and support for immigrant and indigenous students is prioritized.

What America Can Do:

  • Reform school funding so that it doesn’t depend so heavily on local property taxes.

  • Invest more in underserved schools, not less.

  • Provide holistic support for low-income students—nutrition, counseling, and family outreach.

3. Reduce Testing, Focus on Learning — Like Finland and the Netherlands

Excessive standardized testing in the U.S. often narrows the curriculum and increases student anxiety. Countries like Finland and the Netherlands have shown that you can achieve better outcomes with fewer tests and more project-based, exploratory learning.

What America Can Do:

  • End the over-dependence on standardized tests to measure student and school success.

  • Replace teaching-to-the-test with deeper learning through collaborative projects, problem-solving, and creativity.

  • Encourage student agency and critical thinking, not rote memorization.

4. Invest Early — Like Japan and Singapore

Top-performing countries don’t wait until middle or high school to start academic rigor. They invest heavily in early childhood education, laying a strong foundation for later success. In Singapore, for instance, early years are seen as critical for building character, curiosity, and core skills.

What America Can Do:

  • Expand access to high-quality preschool for all children, regardless of income.

  • Prioritize social-emotional learning alongside early literacy and numeracy.

  • Support parents with education and child development resources starting at birth.

5. Modernize Curriculum for the 21st Century — Like Estonia

Estonia, a small Baltic country, has made major strides by embracing digital learning, coding, and entrepreneurship from a young age. Their curriculum prepares students for a changing world, not one that existed decades ago.

What America Can Do:

  • Introduce digital skills, financial literacy, climate science, and ethics into the curriculum.

  • Partner with the private sector to bring modern tools and mentorship into classrooms.

  • Emphasize adaptability, not just academic content—students need to learn how to learn.

6. Rethink College-Readiness and Vocational Tracks — Like Germany

In Germany, students can choose from multiple respected paths—academic or vocational—based on their interests and strengths. There’s no stigma around apprenticeships or technical education.

What America Can Do:

  • Expand vocational and career-technical education (CTE) options in high schools.

  • Partner with businesses and unions to provide apprenticeships and on-the-job training.

  • Value diverse post-secondary outcomes—college, trade schools, the arts, and entrepreneurship.

7. Cultivate Whole-Child Education — Like South Korea (But Less Stressful)

While South Korea is often known for academic rigor, it’s beginning to shift toward less pressure and more creativity, acknowledging the toll that extreme testing takes on mental health. Holistic development—emotional, physical, ethical—is becoming more central in top systems.

What America Can Do:

  • Incorporate mental health education, physical wellness, and character building into every school.

  • Reduce homework and start school later to match adolescent sleep patterns.

  • Focus on engagement and joy in learning, not just academic achievement.

Conclusion: America Needs Bold, Not Cosmetic, Reforms

The American education system doesn’t need minor tweaks—it needs a deep structural rethinking. The U.S. must stop chasing short-term metrics and start investing in long-term human development. The solutions are already out there—proven by countries that spend less but achieve more. What’s missing is the political will, public consensus, and cultural shift toward treating education as a national priority on par with defense or the economy.

Education should be the ladder of opportunity. But in its current form, American public education too often reinforces inequality rather than reversing it.

The good news? With vision and courage, it can be fixed. And the world has already written the playbook.




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World-Class Learning: The Rich Countries with the Best Education Systems



World-Class Learning: The Rich Countries with the Best Education Systems

When it comes to the best education systems globally, many of the top performers are high-income nations that have long invested in building robust, equitable, and future-ready schools. These countries don’t just throw money at education—they design systems that cultivate curiosity, reward excellence in teaching, and prioritize the holistic development of each child.

Below are some of the richest countries in the world that also happen to have the best education systems, along with the key features that set them apart:

1. Finland: The Gold Standard of Equitable Learning

Finland’s education system has become a global benchmark—not for being the most high-tech or the most competitive, but for being the most humane and effective.

Key Features:

  • No standardized testing—except one national exam at the end of high school.

  • Highly qualified teachers—all must hold master’s degrees, and teaching is among the most prestigious professions.

  • Equal opportunity—funding is allocated to ensure all students, regardless of region or background, get the same quality of education.

  • Late start, strong finish—formal schooling begins at age 7, but early childhood emphasizes play and emotional intelligence.

  • Short school days, no homework culture—with more emphasis on learning how to learn.

2. Singapore: Small Country, Big Results

From struggling in the 1960s to topping global rankings today, Singapore's education system is a model of intentional, data-driven excellence.

Key Features:

  • Rigorous curriculum, especially in math and science—Singapore math is used in many U.S. schools.

  • High-stakes exams, used to track students into academic or technical pathways.

  • Continuous teacher development, with mentorship, regular training, and competitive salaries.

  • Bilingual education—students must learn both English and their mother tongue.

  • Strong parental involvement, reflecting a national culture that prizes educational achievement.

3. South Korea: High Achievement, High Pressure

South Korea’s education system is intense and results-driven. It boasts near-universal literacy and top rankings in reading and math.

Key Features:

  • Massive societal investment in education, including a $20 billion private tutoring (hagwon) industry.

  • National obsession with university entrance, centered around the CSAT (College Scholastic Ability Test).

  • Highly respected teachers, with government-set standards and good pay.

  • Digital classrooms, with tech-integrated instruction across subjects.

  • Moral education included in curriculum, promoting civic values alongside academics.

4. Canada: Quiet Excellence

Canada often flies under the radar, but it consistently performs among the top in reading, science, and math—with less inequality than most other rich nations.

Key Features:

  • Decentralized system, with each province managing its own schools yet achieving high standards.

  • Diversity-friendly policies, ensuring that immigrant and indigenous students are included and supported.

  • Bilingual education (English and French), with a strong emphasis on language proficiency.

  • Low dropout rates, high college enrollment, and excellent public school options.

  • Teachers are unionized, well-paid, and professionally respected.

5. Japan: Blending Tradition and Innovation

Japan is known for its disciplined and structured education system, which is rooted in values like respect, perseverance, and group harmony.

Key Features:

  • Long school hours and after-school programs, creating a full-day learning experience.

  • Standardized curriculum, set nationally but delivered with local flexibility.

  • Classroom cleanliness and student responsibility—children clean their classrooms themselves.

  • High literacy and numeracy rates, with world-leading results on global assessments.

  • Moral and character education, emphasizing social responsibility.

6. Netherlands: Choice and Autonomy

The Dutch system is known for school choice, inclusive policies, and student happiness—a rare combination of freedom and structure.

Key Features:

  • Publicly funded school choice, allowing parents to choose among public, religious, or alternative schools.

  • Focus on student well-being, with policies against stress and over-testing.

  • Early identification of learning needs, including support for students with disabilities or language barriers.

  • Short school hours but high effectiveness, especially in early childhood education.

  • High English proficiency, taught from a young age.

Conclusion: What Makes These Systems Great?

Across all these high-income nations, a few common threads emerge:

  • Professionalization of teaching: Great education systems treat teachers like experts.

  • Equity as a foundation: Top systems ensure that excellence is for everyone, not just the privileged.

  • Balance between academic rigor and well-being: Learning environments are designed to challenge without crushing.

  • Commitment to continuous innovation, adapting systems to meet future needs—whether that’s digital skills, climate literacy, or emotional intelligence.

Wealth can help build a strong education system—but it’s how a country uses its wealth that truly determines whether its students will thrive. These nations prove that the right policies, values, and priorities can make all the difference.




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Wednesday, May 18, 2022

Time For China And India To Shed "Neutrality"



China did not know beforehand that Russia was going to invade Ukraine. India did not.

And while the two militaries clash on Ukrainian territory with the overwhelming damage to Ukrainian lives and property, it is at one level. It is localized war.

Putin can not complain about economic sanctions. For one, they have not been a surprise. And he, on his part, has issued retaliatory economic sanctions.

Nobody owes the Putin regime a world power status. He is not even fighting for second place. Or third, or fourth, or fifth. China is the second largest economy. India is the third largest. And if Russia were not an authoritarian kleptocracy, it migth be a vibrant knowledge economy. Putin is the problem.

These nuclear threats by Putin can not be thought of as empty words. Autocrats are known to commit suicide. The Putin inner circles often get described as a prison yard. You watch your back, I will watch mine.

Putin is not threatening Finland, or Britain. We all know a nuclear threat by either Russia or the US is a threat to the entire planet.

China and India must step in.

By that I do not mean China and India should now do what Britain has been doing, what many NATO countries have been doing. I am not asking that you take sides. But I am asking that you stop staying on the sidelines. Get actively involved in the conversation. Weigh in on both sides.

China, India, Brazil, South Africa, Indonesia all need to step into the void and help resolve the situation. This game of brinkmanship has gone too far already.

The Chinese and the Indian leadership need to demand that the heads of states of Russia, the United States, Ukraine, Finland, Sweden, Britain, France and Germany meet them for a summit in a neutral territory like Brazil or South Africa, or even Indonesia and hold in person negotiations to walk back from the brink.

Putin's nuclear threats to Finland and Britain are not localized threats. They are immediate nuclear radiation threats to Russia and Europe, and an existential threat to the entire planet. That threatening posture can not be allowed to stand.

China and India should work to impose a no first use policy on all nuclear powers. Nothing less makes any sense.



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Saturday, December 07, 2019

Finland: Capitalist Paradise?

We’ve now been living in Finland for more than a year. The difference between our lives here and in the States has been tremendous, but perhaps not in the way many Americans might imagine. What we’ve experienced is an increase in personal freedom.
in Finland, we are automatically covered, no matter what, by taxpayer-funded universal health care that equals the United States’ in quality (despite the misleading claims you hear to the contrary), all without piles of confusing paperwork or haggling over huge bills. Our child attends a fabulous, highly professional and ethnically diverse public day-care center that amazes us with its enrichment activities and professionalism. The price? About $300 a month — the maximum for public day care, because in Finland day-care fees are subsidized for all families........ if we stay here, our daughter will be able to attend one of the world’s best K-12 education systems at no cost to us, regardless of the neighborhood we live in. College would also be tuition free. If we have another child, we will automatically get paid parental leave, funded largely through taxes, for nearly a year, which can be shared between parents. Annual paid vacations here of four, five or even six weeks are also the norm......... Finnish citizens report extraordinarily high levels of life satisfaction; the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development ranked them highest in the world, followed by Norwegians, Danes, Swiss and Icelanders. This year, the World Happiness Report also announced Finland to be the happiest country on earth, for the second year in a row....... under its current system, Finland has become one of the world’s wealthiest societies, and like the other Nordic countries, it is home to many hugely successful global companies. ...... The Nordic region is not only “just as business-friendly as the U.S.” but also better on key free-market indexes, including greater protection of private property, less impact on competition from government controls and more openness to trade and capital flows...... doing business in Denmark and Norway is actually easier overall than it is in the United States ....... Finland also has high levels of economic mobility across generations. A 2018 World Bank report revealed that children in Finland have a much better chance of escaping the economic class of their parents and pursuing their own success than do children in the United States. ...... citizens of Finland actually enjoy higher levels of personal and political freedom, and more secure political rights, than citizens of the United States........ In the United States, Senator Bernie Sanders and Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez are often demonized as dangerous radicals. In Finland, many of their policy ideas would seem normal — and not particularly socialist. ...... When Mr. Sanders ran for president in 2016, what surprised our Finnish friends was that the United States, a country with so much wealth and successful capitalist enterprise, had not already set up some sort of universal public health care program and access to tuition-free college. Such programs tend to be seen by Nordic people as the bare basics required for any business-friendly nation to compete in the 21st century. ........ in Finland, you don’t really see the kind of socialist movement that has been gaining popularity in some of the more radical fringes of the left in America, especially around goals such as curtailing free markets and even nationalizing the means of production. The irony is that if you championed socialism like this in Finland, you’d get few takers.......... actual socialism seems so much more popular in the capitalist United States than in supposedly socialist Finland ......... during the first half of the 20th century, Finland prevented socialism from becoming a revolutionary force — and did so in a way that sounds downright American. ........ Instead of exploiting workers and trying to keep them down, after World War II, Finland’s capitalists cooperated with government to map out long-term strategies and discussed these plans with unions to get workers onboard. .......... Finnish capitalists also realized that it would be in their own long-term interests to accept steep progressive tax hikes. The taxes would help pay for new government programs to keep workers healthy and productive — and this would build a more beneficial labor market. These programs became the universal taxpayer-funded services of Finland today, including public health care, public day care and education, paid parental leaves, unemployment insurance and the like. ........ people in the United States have been peddled a myth that universal government programs like these can’t coexist with profitable private-sector businesses and robust economic growth .......

throughout the 20th century Finland remained — and remains to this day — a country and an economy committed to markets, private businesses and capitalism.

....... Finland’s capitalist growth and dynamism have been helped, not hurt, by the nation’s commitment to providing generous and universal public services that support basic human well-being. These services have buffered and absorbed the risks and dislocations caused by capitalist innovation. ........... With Finland’s stable foundation for growth and disruption, its small but dynamic free-market economy has punched far above its weight. Some of the country’s most notable businesses have included the world’s largest mobile phone company, one of the world’s largest elevator manufacturers and two of the world’s most successful mobile gaming companies. Visit Finland today and it’s obvious that the much-heralded quality of life is taking place within a bustling economy of upscale shopping malls, fancy cars and internationally competitive private companies......... The other Nordic countries have been practicing this form of capitalism even longer than Finland, with even more success. ........ The Nordic countries are all different from one another, and all have their faults, foibles, unique histories and civic disagreements. Contentious battles between strong unions and employers help keep the system in balance. Often it gets messy: Just this week, the Finnish prime minister resigned amid a labor dispute........ Capitalism works better if employees get paid decent wages and are supported by high-quality, democratically accountable public services that enable everyone to live healthy, dignified lives and to enjoy real equality of opportunity for themselves and their children. For us, that has meant an increase in our personal freedoms and our political rights — not the other way around. .........

Over the past 50 years, if you had invested in a basket of Nordic equities, you would have earned a higher annual real return than the American stock market during the same half-century

....... Paying taxes is a convenient way for capitalists to outsource to the government the work of keeping workers healthy and educated......... While companies in the United States struggle to administer health plans and to find workers who are sufficiently educated, Nordic societies have demanded that their governments provide high-quality public services for all citizens. This liberates businesses to focus on what they do best: business. It’s convenient for everyone else, too. All Finnish residents, including manual laborers, legal immigrants, well-paid managers and wealthy families, benefit hugely from the same Finnish single-payer health care system and world-class public schools. ....... When capitalists perceive government as a logistical ally rather than an ideological foe and when all citizens have a stake in high-quality public institutions, it’s amazing how well government can get things done.......... Capitalists in the United States have taken a different path. They’ve slashed taxes, weakened government, crushed unions and privatized essential services in the pursuit of excess profits. All of this leaves workers painfully vulnerable to capitalism’s dynamic disruptions. Even well-positioned Americans now struggle under debilitating pressures, and a majority inhabit a treacherous Wild West where poverty, homelessness, medical bankruptcy, addiction and incarceration can be just a bit of bad luck away.

Americans are told that this is freedom and that it is the most heroic way to live. It’s the same message Finns were fed a century ago.

........ the success of Nordic capitalism is not due to businesses doing more to help communities. In a way, it’s the opposite: Nordic capitalists do less. What Nordic businesses do is focus on business — including good-faith negotiations with their unions — while letting citizens vote for politicians who use government to deliver a set of robust universal public services. ............. Americans feel deeply pessimistic about the nation’s future and fear that worse political conflict is coming. Some military analysts and historians agree and put the odds of a civil war breaking out in the United States frighteningly high.
Feel the Bern?
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